Automobile railway car



March Q', i935. D lI DOLAN ET AL n AUTOMOBILE RAILWAY CAR Patented Mar.19, 193s` 994,695

' UNITED STATES PATENT oFFi-cE AUTOMOBILE RAILWAY can `Davia J. Dolanand Frank n. mgley, Cleveland, Heights, Ohio, assignors to The GardelCompany, Inc., Chester, Pa., a corporation of Delaware v ApplicationMarch 23, 1933, Serial No. 662,380 3 Claims. (Cl. 105-368) Thisinvention relates to railway cars for transhooks 8 under and intoengagement with an end portation of automobiles. Y l part of anautomobile moved from the central The objects of the inventionare toprovide such panel 4 to the position indicated. The hooks a car whichshall have a maximumcarrying camay be arranged to thus automaticallyengage 5 pacity in automobiles, for its length; and one the automobilefront axles as illustrated. Ob- 5 having an arrangement of its partswherein a lviously an automobile on the end panel 5 will be maximumstrength is had. firmly secured by gravity against motion toward Theexact nature of this invention together with its end of the car.` and byits hook means against further objects and' advantages thereof will beapmotion in the opposite direction.

1o parent from they following description takenl '1n For unloading ofthe automobiles on theend 10 connection with the accompanying drawing,in panels of the lower deck, pull ropes, rods, or other whichFig. 1 is acomposite view generally in side lines 10a are run from the lever-arms10, along elevation, conventionally and diagrammatically the sides ofthe body to convenient reach adiaillustrating an embodiment of theinvention, opcent the side door openings. Thus, once the posite ends ofthe'car illustrating different modicenter panel 4 is unloaded, anoperator on this 15 flcations, 'a load of automobiles therein beinginpanel need only pull one of theselines 10a to redicated, and pertinentparts of another car, as lease an "automobile from an end panel,wherecoupled thereto, being shown; Figs. 2 and 3 are upon the releasedautomobile will roll by gravity transverse sectional elevations as inthe planes down onto the central panel 4; whence it may be of lines 2-2,3 3, respectively Fig. 1. unloaded-from the'car through the open side.20 With reference now to the drawing, 1 conven- Its sides 11 haveopenings providing access to tionally illustrates the frame of the car,mounted the central panel 4 and preferably coextensive upon the endtrucks 2, and supporting the car therewith lengthwise of the car. Doors12 are body generally indicated at 3. The car body has provided forthese openings. Although the doors lo sides 1l, ends 22 and a top 13. 12may be otherwise mounted they are shown as 25 The body has a bottom deckwith a low central in pairs, hinged top and bottom as indicated atsection or panel 4 between the trucks 2, and end 14 to swing downwardlyand outwardly from closed sections or panels 5, 5a, each leading fromthe position as indicated Fig. 3 to provide a loading central panel 4and arranged to clear the near platform for thecentral panel 4 of thebottom l0 truck. As indicated at the left, Fig. 1, the end deck. l v 3opanel 5 is at, with continuous slope upwardly Anotherpossible side doorarrangement is one from the central panel 4 to the end of the car.wherein the door openings vextend the full height As indicated to theright,-Fig. 1, the end panel of the car body side walls, and the doorsare ar- 5a has a sloping part 5b leading upwardly from ranged to `slideasin the ordinary box car. This $6 the central panel 4, to a level 5c.arrangement is preferable in that the car may 35 In either event the endpanels of the bottom be used for transportation of bulky articles toodeck clear their trucks, and are so proportioned large to be loaded ontothe usual railroad box car. and arranged as to support an automobile,with The bottom deck may thus be loaded by moving its rear wheelsresting upon a slope, and either of the r'st automobile over the rampprovided by 40 the described'and illustrated arrangements may the nearopened side doorl 12, and onto the low 40 be employed. y v central panel4, to a position directed to one end Obviously anautomobile' sopositioned will tend of the car. Suitable apparatus may be vemployed toroll downwardly toward the central panel 4. if necessary for thepurpose. The automobile is To prevent this, latch seeming means areprothen moved in its ahead direction up onto the corvided. Asconventionally illustrated in the drawresponding end panel 'where it isautomatically 45 ing, such latch means may comprise a bar 6 latched inposition as described; The next automounted as a rock shaft in brackets'I secured on mobile is similarly positioned on the central panel theend of the car body and having hook means 4 but heading in the oppositedirection. It is 8 with tongues 9 extending. therefrom, springs 8a thenmoved forwardly onto the other end panel arranged to yieldably urge thehooks upwardly, 5 and there latched as before. Preferably the 50 andarms 10 exnding upwardly from the exend panels are provided with spacedflanges 15 or tremities of the rock shaft 8 to limit the motion similarguide means for the wheels of automobiles of the hooks 8 and serve asreleasing actuators as moved onto the panels, these guide means servwillbe described. 'I'he parts are so proportioned ing also to secure thelatched automobiles against and arranged that the tongues 9 will camtheir side shifting in transit. A third automobile is 55 then loadedonto the central panel 4 and secured thereon against shifting intransit, by any convenient means.

The bottom deck of the car is then completely loaded and its doors 12may be closed and secured. y

The car body is provided with an upper deck 16 extending level theentire car length at height just sufiicient to clear the load ofautomobiles on the bottom deck as indicated at Fig. 1; and the height ofthe top 13 of the body is justsuiiicient to clear automobiles on thedeck 16. I'he deck is in two parts each extending inwardly from its sidewall, with an upwardly extending lip 17 y along its inner extremity, theproportions being such that the lips 17 will serve as automobile guidesextending between the wheels thereof as indicated in the drawing. Alsoas indicated Figs. 2 and 3, each deck part is preferably mounted on itssidewall to be removed or swung thereagainst, to make the entire spacewithin the car body available without partitions when this is desired asfor shipment of other goods than automobiles. The arrangement shown inthe drawing for the purpose includes hinges 16a mounting the deck parts16 for upward swinging motion, and brackets 1Gb for supporting the decksin lowered position, the brackets being removable or mounted to swingagainst the car sides when not in use.

Where the side door openings extend the full height of the car as in theoptional arrangement already described, the decks 16 are made sectionalso that those deck parts opposite the doorways may be removed.

The end walls of the car body have openings leading to the space betweenthe deck 16 and the top 13. Upper and lower doors 18 and 19 are providedfor these openings, hinged top and bottom, so that when the adjacentdoors of a pair of vcoupled cars are opened as indicated at the left,Fig. 1, automobiles may be run from one car to the next over the lowerlend doors 19, the upper doors 18 clearing the automobiles and providinga roof for the passageway'between cars. Suitable supports hereconventionally indicated as chains 20, are associated with the lower enddoors 19 to support them in open position. The upper doors 18 may besecured in open position in any convenient manner such as by' foldingback over the tops of their cars or by clips as conventionally indicatedat 21.

It will be obvious that the upper deck 16 of the car is loaded throughone of the end openings, and that in a train of such cars the entireupper deck may be loaded from an end of the train; it being merelynecessary to provide a delivery platform of suitable height, with a rampapproach or the like, for the purpose. The upper deck may preferably beunloaded from the opposite end of the car.

In conclusion it may be observed that the described car arrangementlends itself rtoa construction of great strength. The side openings donot extend above the upper deck 16, and the end openings do not extendbelowthis deck. so

that the car body has inherent strength from the form of its sides andmay be given any desired additional strength by very simple framing.

As to loading and unloading, either a single car or a train of cars maybe loaded or unloaded on both decks simultaneously. By the describedarrangement of the panels of the lower deck, an automobile of unusualheight may be accommodated in the central panel 4 thereof, yet withpresent day automobile heights, the car may pass the presentstandardrailroad clearances. Obviously, while the embodiment illustratedaccommodates six automobiles, it could be made to accommodate eight ormore by lengthening of the .central panel 4.' Similarly, for conveniencein loading the lower deck, its central panel might be arranged as, orincluding, a turntable upon which the automobiles thereon could berotated to assist in their loading and, unloading as will beappreciated. t Y

What we. claim is:

1. In a railway car for transportation ofauto-y mobiles, a carbodymounted upon a pair'of'end trucks, said body having a bottom deck with alow central section between said trucks and end section each extendingupwardly from said central section and over the near truck, said bodyhaving an upper deck extending the length of the car over said bottomdeck, said body having sides with central openings providing for sideloading directly` onto said central bottom deck section only and havingends with openingsv providing for end loading onto said upper deck, andbeing otherwise without loading openings, whereby a rigid body structureis had. A l

2. In a railway car for transportation of automobiles, a car body havingan automobile supporting deck sectionwith a slope, andal way ofautomobile approachto said section at the lower end thereof, and latchmeans arranged to automatically engage. an automobile when the latter ispositioned on'said section, with a wheelv on said slope, to releasablysecure said 'automo bile against motion down said slope; 3. Ina railwaycar vfor transportation of automobiles, a car body mountedupon'a pair ofend trucks, said body having abottom deck with a low central sectionbetween said trucks and end sections, each leading from said centralsection, with a slope arranged to clear the near truckand located tosupport a pair of wheels of an automobile on the end section, latchmeans associated with said car body and arranged to automatically atorat'said central section to cause automobile-` releasing operation ofsaid latch means.

DAVID J. DOLAN. FRANK vR. HIGLEY.

